Building your own distortion guitar pedal is a great way to learn about electronics and explore different sound possibilities. You will need some basic tools, components, and a soldering iron to get started.

To start, it’s important to understand what a distortion pedal does. A distortion pedal is a type of effect pedal that adds distortion to the guitar signal. This distortion can range from a subtle crunch to a full-on fuzz.

Once you understand the basics, you should decide on the type of distortion you’d like to create. This will determine the type of components and circuitry you’ll need. Common components used in distortion pedals include transistors, integrated circuits, and diodes.

With a little patience and the right tools, you can build your own DIY distortion guitar pedal. Have fun!

DIY Distortion Pedal Kits

Below, you'll find a number of DIY guitar effects pedal kits & PCB's based on original DIY Distortion pedals from famous brands. If there are any other pedals that you'd like to see featured, please get in touch and let me know.

Boss DF-2 Super Distortion & Feedbacker

Boss DS-1 Distortion

Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal

Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret

Catalinbread Karma Suture

DOD FX53 Classic Tube

DOD FX76 Punkifier

EarthQuaker Devices Acapulco Gold

EarthQuaker Devices Life Pedal

Electro Harmonix Big Muff

Electro Harmonix Double Muff

Electro Harmonix Muff Fuzz

Electro Harmonix Op Amp Big Muff

Friedman BE-OD

Friedman Dirty Shirley

Friedman Motor City Drive

Fulltone Mas Malo

Fulltone Secret Freq

Ibanez BN5 Black Noise Distortion

Ibanez CD5 Cyberdrive

Ibanez MT10 Mostortion

Ibanez SD9 Sonic Distortion

JHS Angry Charlie

JHS PG-14

Lovepedal Purple Plexi

Marshall Shred Master

MI Audio Crunch Box

MI Audio Super Crunch Box

MXR Distortion+

MXR M75 Super Badass Distortion

ProCo Rat

Thorpy FX Warthog

Vertex TDrive

Wampler Pinnacle Distortion

Wampler Plexi Drive

Wampler Sovereign Distortion

Wampler Triple Wreck

ZVex 59 Sound

ZVex Box of Rock

ZVex Machine

Beginner's Guide